1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to computer-based business communications, and more particularly to filtered peer-to-peer business communication in a distributed computer environment.
2. Background of the Invention
Modem communication solutions enable vast quantities of live information to be exchanged within and between enterprises, but there is still a need for increased relevancy to enable parties to interact with only the information they actually need to effectively communicate with their peers. The large volume of information typically encountered on a daily basis can result in an overwhelming quantity of information through which to filter. The onslaught of information typically results in much of the information being stored to be processed, if at all, at a later time rather than the flow of information being processed as it is received. Consequently, a fraction of received information is seen and eventually processed, a fraction is seen but not fully appreciated and therefore falls through the cracks, and the remainder might never be seen at all. As an example, a large enterprise may generate billions of possible exceptions and decision points per year. Software applications can pull certain of these exceptions and decision points up at the job function or “role” level, but most enterprise applications and business users still encounter poor, unfiltered monitoring and an increasingly disparate set of tools to communicate with other systems within the same or different enterprises. Employees, challenged by the sheer number of competing messages and tasks that cross their workspaces, resist incoming data, and even the relatively few messages that are seen and processed are often insignificant to the task at hand. Loss of valuable information is potentially harmful to an enterprise because such information may concern, for example, the next major client or the next big cost-saver for the enterprise. Enterprises and associated users need an effective way to help ensure that valuable information is seen, prioritized, and addressed rather than being lost among the vast quantity of unimportant information that is also received.